Analyse af Barack Obamas 'Back to School' tale

Prepared remarks of President Barack Obama: Back to school event:

In Obama’s speech at Wakefield high school, the president addresses the challenges and responsibility all students have to overcome and fulfill, to become successful in life. But you will only succeed if you are willing to put in the effort and the hard work. Obama shares some of his own personal experiences in high school, and how you deal with failure, that sometimes comes along, with trying to succeed. Obama’s speech at Wakefield high school is a very motivational speech that is meant for the students to realize how important education is, and how important it is to stay in school. Obama are well known for being an excellent rhetorician, and uses his talents to the fullest. As the President of the United States, you need to appear trustworthy and convincing in all situations and circumstances, and Obama proves, at Wakefield high school, that he is a skilled speaker. Obama says he “expects” the students to take responsibility for their education. He starts by establishing friendly and down-to-earth attitude, so that the students can relate to what he is trying to say. By joking a little at first, and being able to tell a story of his own experiences with education on a level that most people could relate to, Obama get a good footing in the beginning, making the students comfortable and more open to listening. He goes on by telling a story of his own life, when he was young and lived in Indonesia, how difficult it would get when he had to wake up at 4.30 to study with his mother, with him falling asleep at the morning table. Now it is clear Obama want to make the young kids and teenagers know that he also once fought with problems that affected his school, so that it would make more sense on why he mentions the importance of education. “And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself”. The responsibility you have for yourself is finding your talent, and Obama believes that education will help you discover your talents. At the same time it’s a solicitation on behalf of the country, because in the United States of America you also have a big responsibility for your country to be the best you can be, and exploit what you are given of opportunities. It’s just as important for the country’s future that the students succeed so that the country continuously prosper and flourish. This is something Obama clearly values and want them to know that he does. He states his value clear and confident. “We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you are quitting on your country”. It seems as Obama is trying to inspire the new generation of students to keep learning, and take the school seriously, because of what he had experienced. “Here in America you write your own destiny. You make your own future”. Obama holds and values the same traditionally thoughts as a “true American” believes in. Then continues by showing a ton of examples of people who had fought with brain cancer, immigrants who didn’t speak as good English as they should. Then he says: “they choose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same”. I think Obama tries to mix it up by giving them inspiration from stories of people who worked hard to get where they are, as he did for himself. But at the same time tell them the reality of what the future will bring, if they don’t use their talents to evolve. It seems as Obama is trying to inspire the new generation of students to keep learning, be inspired, and take school seriously. I also believe that if you work harder there would be some kind of recognition and opportunities. But none the less not all can be successful, and not all can be a presidents and inventor of “facebook”. Parts of his speech is a bit black and white, like if you study hard you will be successful, and therefore luck and given opportunities doesn’t have a significant influence on the outcome, but it really has. There are so many other factors that determine your success, like if there are no jobs available. Or there is an economic crisis, or any other crisis, so there can be so many factors that decide the future. I mostly agree and like the way he includes the values of how important it is to work hard together, and face the challenges as one nation. Therefore I think that Obama is excellent at what he does, to motivate people for a greater cause, like he did with healthcare.